They’re sparked by black people going about their everyday lives, only to be interrupted by someone calling the police for the thinnest of suspicions.

In the past month, more than a handful of such interactions have attracted widespread attention on social media — and, in turn, in national outlets like The Times, CNN and The Washington Post.

“It happens so frequently to people of color that we don’t often think of it as a big deal or as particularly newsworthy,” said Paul Butler, a Georgetown University law professor who is the author of “Chokehold: Policing Black Men.”

“We don’t often think of it as a big deal or as particularly newsworthy:” Other than all the national news coverage.

Back in April, I looked out the window one evening and there were four LAPD squad SUVs blocking the street in front of my house. It turned out that the middle-aged guy who had recently started renting the house a few doors down had misplaced his keys and tried to get in a window. A neighbor who hadn’t met him yet had called the cops, thinking he was a burglar. The cops came, the man explained in a friendly manner, and they went away.